What's next for the Blue Ribbon Bacon Fest?

Feb. 2, 2013

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BRBF: BY THE NUMBERS

7 countries from which tickets were purchased this year 39 U.S. states from which tickets were purchased this year 6,000 pounds of bacon consumed at the 2012 BRBF 96,000 strips of bacon consumed at the 2012 BRBF 10,000 pounds of bacon expected to be consumed Saturday 20 miles this year’s bacon would stretch (or, four times the height of Mt. Everest from sea level to summit) 202 seconds it took to sell about 8,000 tickets to this year’s fest 3,456 bottles of Viking beer coming from Iceland 500 kilos of Icelandic bacon that the Bacon Board is trying to import before Saturday

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So how many tickets would it take to sate Iowa’s seemingly insatiable bacon lust?

Brooks Reynolds said organizers tracked more than 11,500 unique computers and phones logging on to buy tickets when they went on sale in December. There are bands that can sell twice that many tickets at Wells Fargo Arena, but it normally takes months to reach that figure. Basically, bacon is hotter than Bon Jovi, Carrie Underwood and Bob Dylan.

“People always say ‘Why don’t you go to Wells Fargo (Arena) and have 20,000 people over multiple days?’ ” Reynolds said. “We’ve kind of stuck with a level of growth we’re comfortable with. When we started in 2008 never in our wildest imaginations did we think it would be anything like it is today.”

The Blue Ribbon Bacon Festival is now about 40 times the size it was when it started. The 80/35 Music Festival started the same year, and if it had grown at the same pace it would be one of the biggest music festivals in the world.

So where can the Blue Ribbon Bacon Festival go from here? Reynolds said the Iowa Bacon Board is already looking ahead to 2014. They may need to stretch the fest over multiple days, or move the event to April so it can be held outside (Reynolds wants to keep the event out of the busier summer months).

The Blue Ribbon Bacon Festival has expanded well beyond the Des Moines venues holding it. The Blue Ribbon Bacon Tour will hit Keystone, Colo. for the third year in June. And it will return with the Reykjavik Bacon Festival in Iceland on Aug. 24.